I had the car in with the dealers about 2 ½ months ago for a service and some warranty work; a new electric window switch. Today I called back in with the dealer as the switch is playing up again. The member of staff I spoke to explained that the warranty work is only guaranteed up until the end of the warranty which expired in January. Is this correct?

The way he explained it was that if they fixed something on the 30th Mar for example and the warranty expired on the 31st and it then broke on the 2nd April it wouldn’t be covered, which I accepted at the time.

As I was driving away I thought about this I thought it must be wrong. After all, in the example above you’d argue that the fault hadn’t been fixed correctly in the first place. Surly there must be a “reasonable” period that the repair should last for to be considered a successful fix. If I’d paid for the work, I’d expect it to be “sufficiently durable” and I have implicitly paid for the work by buying the car which had a warranty built into the price.

What do you guys think? Your Comments appreciated.

The part was replaced FOC during the warranty and was still working when the warranty expired, so you got the warranty cover you paid for. Had you paid for the part then it would have been guaranteed for 2 years. That said, you could argue that the replacement part must have been faulty to have failed so soon - and that the warranty repair was therefore unsatisfactory. I would pursue this line with Skoda Customer Services.

Edited 20 February, 200917 yr by DGW

i agree with what was said above

Hmmmmm, thanks. I think I go back to the Stealers and suggest that they inspect it/run a diagnostic for free (they wanted to charge for this). If it's the part then as above I would say it was faulty to have broken so quickly and should be replaced FOC, if its not the part then its fair to say its outside of the warranty as it is a seperate issue.........

And if the dealer won't play ball I'll try customer services. Thanks for the comments.

I notice your location is down as Cardiff, in which case I wouldn't bother going to White Dove as they are completely useless, try the dealership in Newport they were quite good when I lived down that way.

I'd suggest that the fix didn't really fix the issue and that since it was reported in warranty then it should be correctly fixed.

However DGW's point is correct that if the car has worked for three years then they have done what they have to do under the warranty.

I was thinking "balance of manufacturer's warranty", but on further thought I'd say that the replacement component was "not of merchantable quality", since its actual life was so much below what the manufacturer is prepared to warrant it against failure for.

I had the same problem with vw and a leaking taillight. They didn't have to fix it but in the end did it as a goodwill gesture

I would think Skoda would be keen to avoid bad publicity and should fix the faulty part as a courtesy. It obviously wasn't fixed properly or was a faulty part in the first place and therefore should be fixed properly. It's only a month out of warranty so it's not like you're trying to take the mickey out of them. Go to a different garage and then try Skoda UK.

Good luck

Update.

I went into the Stealers today. At first it was no no can do - It was working at the end of 3 years and that's all they need to do.

The Service rep did then offer to "do me a deal" Essentially, they'll do the diagnositc for free if I have the problem solved with them, be it a switch, a motor (doubt it) or otherwise. If the diagnostic shows that it's because the repair wasn't carried out correctly eg something is loose then that will be free.

I appreciate that they need to get paid for their work, but I really think they should go further. The problem is that switch sticks, or nothing happens when I press it. This is the same as the previous fault and I don't feel that it was resolved sufficiently 2 1/2 months ago. I think I will try Skoda UK and keep you informed.

Cheers...............

I always though such things carried 12 months, so would cover the same part failure, for the same reasons.

Problem not properly resolved and/or parts used not of merchantable quality IMO. I'd expect your local Consumer Protection to take the same tack.

It really is a case of keep it going till end of warranty and then to hell with it after that. It's the same response I got before, and tbh is a bit of a joke as the problem clearly wasn't sorted.

Spoke to Skoda UK and the garage today. There is the hope (Bob, and No) that they will offer some godwill as I have a full main dealer history. However before anything can be done Skoda will need the diagnostic carried out. Seeing as the dealer will do this for free (so long as they get the work) I'm going to continue along this path and see where it take me.